Chapter 416
Last night at the inn, the children had already bathed. It was cold now, so at night Meng Ruqing personally washed the three children's feet. Uncle Tang said he'd do it, but Meng Ruqing wouldn't let him. Not having been able to wash his son's feet back then had been a lifelong regret. Now he wanted to personally wash his grandchildren's feet, to make up for that regret.
Though his movements were a bit clumsy, at least nothing went wrong. He wiped their faces a little too vigorously, but the children didn't cry. When told to lift their arms, they lifted their arms — very obedient.
Meng Ruqing felt that Zhao Ger had truly raised both children well. After washing up, he carried them to bed. He himself lay on the innermost side, Qin Hengxuan slept on the outer side, and the three children slept in the middle.
Qin Hengxuan had longed for this scene countless times, but it had always only been possible in his dreams.
When Meng Ruqing was pregnant, Qin Hengxuan had often thought that once the child was born, he would sleep with the child — right between him and Meng Ruqing. He wouldn't do what others did, tossing the child to servants and wet nurses the moment they were born. He wanted to raise the child with his own hands, to watch the child grow slowly. His fulang and child were his life; he could only sleep peacefully if they were right under his eyelids.
He wouldn't crush the child—he had "practiced." When Meng Ruqing first became pregnant, he had practiced, placing a small pillow in the middle.
At the time, Meng Ruqing didn't understand and simply thought Qin Hengxuan was afraid of hurting him. But back then, he was only two months along. Sometimes when he woke up, he would see the small pillow had been squashed flat. Clearly Qin Hengxuan hadn't touched him, yet Qin Hengxuan would look like he'd broken out in a cold sweat, terrified beyond reason. When Meng Ruqing asked what was wrong, Qin Hengxuan said it was nothing, just a nightmare. But in truth, he was afraid that if he told Meng Ruqing, he'd be laughed at—because Qin Hengxuan had once asked Old Madam Qin: "Mother, when I was first born, did I sleep with you or with Aunt Zhong?"
"With me, of course! Why do you ask?"
"Back then, you and Father never crushed me, right?"
"You silly child, do you think your father and I are pigs? I've never heard of parents crushing their child—only a sow would do that."
How could Qin Hengxuan possibly bring himself to tell Meng Ruqing the truth after that?
Later, he didn't dare sleep too deeply, constantly keeping his nerves on edge. He endured this bitter "practice" for over half a year. Those six months felt like years to him.
After Meng Ruqing became pregnant, he was no longer as distant and cold as before. His entire demeanor became gentle and warm, and Qin Hengxuan loved it.
In the haze of sleepiness, he would subconsciously and desperately long to embrace Meng Ruqing. But it was as if a taut string inside his body kept warning him that the "child" was in the middle—he couldn't crush his child.
So for six months, this formed a terrible habit—while asleep, he would unconsciously let go of Meng Ruqing, pull away from him, and automatically shift his body backward.
Meng Ruqing was incredibly sensitive. Qin Hengxuan's subconscious movements during sleep and the disappointment that surged in his heart felt like a slap across his face. He thought Qin Hengxuan was resenting him, but he couldn't blame anyone—it was all his own doing.
Qin Hengxuan had fantasized about this scene countless times, the image so vivid it seemed carved into his bones. But later...
After all the twists and turns, after more than half a lifetime, now it felt like a dream fulfilled.
Meng Ruqing was softly telling the children a story.
When Fang Zichen used to coax them to sleep, he often told them stories too. But Fang Zichen didn't like doing things properly — when Zhao Ger wasn't around, he'd tell ghost stories. The three children would be scared stiff, and Gungun and Dandan had even wet the bed from fright, yet the more they listened, the more wide-awake they became.
When Zhao Ger was around, Fang Zichen still told improper stories—Snow White vs. Godzilla.
The children would listen until their blood was boiling. Every time Fang Zichen told stories until his mouth went dry, the children still wouldn't sleep. He decided that TV dramas were all lies — storytelling wasn't sleep-inducing at all; it was like injecting chicken blood.
[injecting chicken blood: to be artificially hyper-energized or over-enthusiastic — from a mid-20th century health craze of injecting chicken blood for vitality.]
Although Meng Ruqing wasn't as good at spinning tales as Fang Zichen, his stories were warm and gentle, like lullabies. Yet Guaizai, Gungun, and Dandan simply couldn't fall asleep.
Gungun and Dandan listened for a while and found it boring, so they crawled out from under the blanket, saying they wanted to play a bit before sleeping.
Meng Ruqing smiled: "What do you want to play?"
Gungun and Dandan said they wanted to act something out, for Guaizai and Meng Ruqing to guess.
Qin Hengxuan moved the brazier to the bedside, then leaned against the headboard, his long legs resting on the edge of the bed to guard them and keep them from falling off.
Now Dandan was kneeling on the blanket, both hands propping him up, then he raised his right foot: "Pretty Uncle, Handsome Grandpa, and Brother, guess what Dandan is performing?"
Qin Hengxuan and Meng Ruqing watched for a long while but couldn't figure out what he was imitating.
Guaizai furrowed his brow and thought, then said loudly: "A wild dog peeing, right?"
"Correct! Brother is so smart." Dandan said happily.
Qin Hengxuan: "..."
Meng Ruqing: "..."
They'd never observed a dog peeing—what a disadvantage.
"It's Gungun's turn." Gungun pressed both hands to his sides, then sprawled on the bed and started crawling, his little bottom wiggling: "Guess what animal Gungun is performing."
Qin Hengxuan and Meng Ruqing were amused by Gungun's appearance, constantly poking his soft little bottom, but despite racking their brains, they couldn't guess.
Guaizai chuckled again: "It's a bug."
Gungun: "Brother guessed right, but which kind of bug?"
Guaizai: "The kind in the outhouse."
Gungun: "Brother got it right again."
Qin Hengxuan: "..."
Meng Ruqing: "..."
Meng Ruqing's eyelashes trembled slightly, looking puzzled: "What kind of bug is in the outhouse?" Was there a bug in the outhouse? Why had he never seen one?
Guaizai looked at him with surprise, as if to say "How can you be so ignorant?", and said: "Ah! Pretty Uncle, you've never even seen maggots?"
Meng Ruqing was rendered speechless. He really hadn't seen them. The Qin residence's outhouse was spotless, frequently emptied. It wasn't like the village, where they just dug a pit, placed wooden planks on top with a gap in the middle. When summer came, the pit was full of maggots swimming in the filth, having the time of their lives. When Gungun and Dandan used the Lu family's outhouse, they'd seen them—the maggots swimming back and forth in the waste water, so lively. At the time, they even wanted to catch some to feed the chickens, but the pit was deep and stank, so they didn't dare reach down.
Now it was Dandan's turn to perform again. Qin Hengxuan watched as he scratched his face, then his bottom, as if he had lice all over, then looked left and right.
His temple twitched. What was he supposed to be imitating now?
Guaizai thought Dandan's performance was very lifelike and obvious, but didn't say anything, wanting Qin Hengxuan and Meng Ruqing to guess. Yet after exchanging glances and racking their brains, they threw out several guesses, but none were correct.
Even Gungun couldn't stand it: "How could this be a chicken? Pretty Uncle and Handsome Grandpa are really too dumb! Being this dumb, how will you manage?"
Qin Hengxuan felt his heart clench, suffering from lack of "experience": "...Then what is Dandan performing? Can Gungun tell Grandpa?"
"Dandan is performing a monkey! How can you not tell? Then Gungun will imitate something very obvious for you, guess it."
Then Qin Hengxuan and Meng Ruqing watched as Gungun crawled on the bed, constantly rubbing his head against the pillow.
What in the world is this supposed to be imitating?
Are Qing Ger and I really that dumb?
Meng Ruqing and Qin Hengxuan guessed for a long while but still couldn't figure it out. Guaizai said, "This is a wild boar rooting for cabbage!"
Qin Hengxuan: "..."
Meng Ruqing: "..."
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